Someone had asked me a while ago if transmitting a stereo signal would require more power. I assumed it wouldn't (significantly) because I figured that an MPX signal would just modulate the carrier more.

However, I recently came across this article which seems to indicate that transmitting in stereo would decrease your broadcast range and thus require more power. The link at the bottom of the page goes to some forum comments about whether it is really a loss in distance or if it is a higher signal to noise ratio.

So my question is, do any of you FM radio gurus out there know whether transmitting stereo FM will actually decrease your transmition range? If so, how much does it decrease and why? Thanks for the help!

Wed Sep 28, 2005 9:43 pm

cliffykRegular poster

Joined: 28 Sep 2005Posts: 43Location: 87.9 to 107.9

The last few paragraphs of the linked article say it all, this statement in particular sums (no pun intended) it up--"A Stereo transmission tends to sound noisier that a Mono signal"...

The "bulk" of the content of your signal is greatly increased when transmitting a stereo encoded signal, and while this "bulk" contributes to your deviation levels most of the added "bulk" is inaudilble until decoded at the receiver--the result is a lessened delivery of useful (to the humans) information (signal vs. noise).